After eating the garden salad ($14) at Bar Panisse a couple of weeks ago, I understood why she got the job.<\/p>\n
I was blown away by its elemental simplicity\u00a0\u2014 lettuces with a vinaigrette of shallots, olive oil and potent Banyuls wine vinegar\u00a0\u2014 and quiet complexity. The technique and practice that it took to strike that balance, to dress it so immaculately, to make the familiar fresh, was encoded onto every leaf. \u201cThe difference between a great salad from a good one\u00a0\u2014 a great one is alive,\u201d Waters said in \u201cAlice Waters and Chez Panisse\u201d by Thomas McNamee, and this salad pulsed with life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Chef Amelia Telc\u030c\u00a0prepares dishes at Bar Panisse, which opened to much anticipation in December.<\/p>\n
Adahlia Cole\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
The simple green salad at Bar Panisse wowed critic Cesar Hernandez.<\/p>\n
Adahlia Cole\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if eating locally grown food<\/a> is the fix-all for the world\u2019s ills, but a salad like that makes the most convincing case for the Chez Panisse promise: Fidelity to ingredients can and does yield irrefutably tasty results.<\/p>\n Chez Panisse is one of the most consequential American restaurants, and Waters among the world\u2019s most influential restaurateurs. She was central in establishing Californian and New American cuisine, and fueled the organic produce, farm-to-table and Slow Food movements. Without Waters, \u201chow chefs cook, the look of restaurants, and the way in which food businesses talk about their social and environmental responsibilities are all inconceivable,\u201d argues historian Paul Freedman in \u201c10 Restaurants that Changed America.\u201d Chez Panisse\u2019s outsize influence on sourcing and cooking has become like oxygen at most restaurants. I confess: My visits to Chez Panisse have never felt exhilarating. The food downstairs was adequately prepared if a bit unexpressive, while the cooking at the caf\u00e9 was bare to the point of mundane.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Bar Panisse isn\u2019t flawless, but it shows the kind of promise and heart that I had always hoped to experience at Chez.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Located next door to Chez Panisse, Bar Panisse is Alice Waters\u2019 third-ever restaurant in the Bay Area, the second being the now-closed Caf\u00e9 Fanny. Bar Panisse replaced Bar C\u00e9sar, whose 23-year run ended<\/a> in 2022, when Chez Panisse, which owns the building, did not renew the tapas bar\u2019s lease; the closure sparked intense outcry<\/a> from its loyal patrons.<\/p>\n Waters and her partners\u00a0\u2014 a nine-member board of directors established in 1975 called Pagnol et Cie\u00a0\u2014 held out any sort of \u201cPanisse\u201d brand expansion for nearly 55 years. The motivation for Bar Panisse, according to a statement from the board, appears to be, at least in part, financial. \u201cDuring the pandemic years it became apparent how vulnerable small restaurants such as Chez Panisse are and how difficult it was to get through that turn of events,\u201d the board said in a statement. \u201cThat time coincided with the lease renewal and we decided that it would be prudent to take over the space ourselves in order to bolster the economic viability of the cafe and restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n The managing board said it doesn\u2019t view the bar as a \u201cbrand extension,\u201d as \u201cAlice has never had those desires or ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n But that undersells the power of the \u201cPanisse\u201d name. During its opening month, Bar Panisse was besieged by patrons, some of whom waited up to two hours<\/a>; the restaurant does not accept reservations.\u00a0<\/p>\n While wait times now are long, it\u2019s possible to walk in after 8 p.m., when most of Berkeley gets ready for bed, and score a table with ease. Inside, the minimalist dining room is styled with glossy wood paneling that looks like secret cabinets. The place has the raucous energy of a Paris wine bar, in that it\u2019s nearly always throbbing with diners over 30 (save for sporadic college students): elder Berkeleyites welcoming the restaurant to the neighborhood, middle-aged couples tearing into goug\u00e8res and daiquiri-sipping male suitors at the bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A busy weekend service commences at Bar Panisse.<\/p>\n Adahlia Cole\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n Leading the kitchen is Telc\u030c, who most recently was running Half Hitch, her popup at Casino in Bodega Bay that offered an eclectic mix of French baked goods, Roman street food and occasionally noodles. Telc\u030c called Bar Panisse a \u201cdream project,\u201d and said that Chez Panisse held \u201ca lot of space in my mind.\u201d She regularly encountered cooks with a Chez background who would regale her with tales of \u201cthe most beautiful produce,\u201d and, most fantastical of all, a \u201c40-hour work week.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n